My takeaway of calling soccer, how to improve myself, and the future of calling sports for LTU

Well, what can I say? My time of calling soccer (professional and college) this year has come to a close. I first began my broadcasting career at Oakland County Football Club as a broadcast intern, doing play-by-play announcing and conducting interviews. This is a best way to get my feet wet and open the door to new opportunities. A month later after I called the last game of my internship, I decided that I want to call more soccer, but in the collegiate level. The school that I get a chance to call is Lawrence Tech University, a place where recently merged with Specs Howard School of Media Arts, the school I graduated last year.

Overall, I called some of the best moments in blue Devil soccer this season, including a long range effort from Laura Silverman, Matthew Sherman Olimpico goal off of a corner kick against U of M-Dearborn, Blue Devil Classic consolation between Huntington and Indiana East and the championship between Lawrence Tech and University of Tennessee-Southern, DiOnna Hill and Jenny Dear two-goal performances against Rochester in a 7-1 win, Mikayla Waranauckas long-range effort against Saint Francis and more to come, which is in my demo reel at the bottom of the page.

It's good to call soccer matches whether if it's professional or college and I'm just getting started. Maybe we'll see what happens in 2022 as I'm getting started my sports broadcasting career. Hopefully, I can be one of the commentators that does NWSL, USL (Championship and League One), CONCACAF Tournaments and importantly Major League Soccer World Feed broadcasts and also do college soccer for any network. As always, I'm just getting started.

How to improve yourself during Play-By-Play broadcasts

There have some bumps on the road during the broadcasts I have called, but there's a lot of things to improve in order to get better.

There's some things that I want to improve the next time I call soccer or any sport and I give credit to David Brody, a sportscasting coach and Jon Chelesnik from STAA for some great advice throughout the last couple of months and now I'll share it with you for those who want to get into play-by-play in sports broadcasting:

• Economize your words and mixing up the vocabulary: Start by brainstorming words on your own, then add to your list by listening to other radio and TV broadcasters. Listen to everyone – veterans and beginners alike. Great vocabulary can come from anywhere, and it can distinguish you in an ultra-competitive market. https://staatalent.com/sound-like-scully-emrick/

• Energy over volume: Let your enthusiasm for being at that game, and your love for play-by-play come through in your delivery and voice. Pound key words and share your passion, energy through emphasis, and utilizing your play-by-play transmission will bring all the life to your broadcasts that you will ever need. https://staatalent.com/play-by-play-energy/

• Captioning your storytelling: Description is self-explanatory. It’s impossible to tell that story without developing the characters on the other team.When it comes to storytelling, you got to know what happening in the game.

  • Why does this game matter?

  • What does it mean to your team if they win or if they lose?

  • Is there a winning or losing streak on the line?

  • Why is this possession important?

  • Are they trying to pad a lead or slice a deficit?

  • Is a key player missing from the game?

  • Is fatigue becoming a factor?

These are all examples of the plots and subplots that you should be following in your play-by-play story. And you can do it without anyone providing you with any background or statistical information. https://staatalent.com/truest-test-of-play-by-play-ability/

• Live in the 3rd gear and go further: It’s the single most difficult aspect of sports broadcasting to master. This is especially applicable for play-by-play guys. Third gear may be the main gear for your play-by-play, but when the action slows down you can sometimes go lower. Other times on big plays, you want to go to fourth or fifth gear. Imagine your play-by-play as the transmission on your car. You’ve got five different gears. You want to vary the gear in which you’re broadcasting based on the game situation. There is a dramatic pause when you’re sitting on the edge of your seat wondering if it’s going to split the uprights. The 1-through-5 scale is a way to practice increasing your energy and finding your pocket in each gear. Practice moving through five increasing levels of volume without going into the red on the VU meter. https://staatalent.com/master-voice-as-an-instrument/ https://staatalent.com/screaming-the-big-plays/

• Be yourself and feel for the game: You don’t have to be a personality but you need to show your personality. Don’t make yourself bigger than the broadcast but do show enough personality to connect with the listener. This is especially important for announcers who don’t have big voices. You need to impress decision makers with all of your other attributes. Tone of voice, style, and personality are a big part of that.

If you want more tips and advice for play-byplay, visit the blogs from STAA.

https://staatalent.com/category/play-by-play/

The future of calling sports for Lawrence Tech University

As of right now, I'm taking a break from calling sports at Lawrence Tech University, but I'm not done just yet. The spring sports season beings in January and as everything still going on for the Fall/Winter, I'm taking time to improve myself and learn some sports that I haven’t called yet. Like I said, soccer is my main thing to call, but there's more room to continue my sports broadcasting career at Lawrence Tech University. I was going to call hockey, but unfortunately, they already have an announcer, which the hockey head coach wanted to have. The sport that I want to call for the spring season is Softball/Baseball and probably Lacrosse.

When it comes to learning a new sport, especially for the spring season, there are ways to call a new sport in order to be confident:

• Watch video: If the sport is one you haven’t seen or heard broadcast, immerse yourself.

• Rely on a pro: If the broadcast allows for it, find an expert to be your analyst and rely upon them. Prepare in a way to draw information from the expert. (Improves your approach in other sports too.)

• Lean on others: Rely on co-workers and other crew members who’ve done it before.

Well everybody, I hope you had a good read of my latest blog. As I still seeking for a full-time job in soccer play-by-play announcer, I hope you have a look at a couple of my demo reels. Feedback and critiques are appreciated and I hope I will get better for the next soccer season. Enjoy the demo reels: